Sin | New and Improved!

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia there exists a panoply of sin. First, of course, there is original sin, which you inherit from Adam and Eve. Bad baby, bad!

Then there are sins of commission and omission, with the excuses "I didn't do it," and "I didn't do anything," respectively.

Sins are also divided in terms of malice: sins of ignorance, passion or infirmity, and malice, and then again according to sins of thought, word, or deed.

Finally, sins are categorized according to their gravity, and until now these were mortal and venial sins. One or both of these leave a stain on the soul that needs to be removed by penance. (Sorry, my eyes are starting to glaze over, sorting out this stuff.)

The seven deadly sin, or capital vices, according to Saint Thomas, are those that incite desire and provide a pleasurable, though limited, result. These are greed, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, sloth, and vanity.

As if this were not all confusing enough, the Pope has come up with one more category of sin - Ultimate Sin, a platinum line, if you will.

Betcha can't guess the first one. Yep!

1. Abortion
   


2. Using the Eucharistic host in Satanic rites
   


3. Clergy pedophile offences
   


4. Violation of the confessional
   


5. Offences against the person of the Pope

These sins are SO deadly that they'll "require forgiveness from the Pope himself."

Call me paranoid, but it looks like, rather than a new category of sin, the Vatican has set up a situation where they can compile lists of people for their own benefit - whatever that might be.

Blessed Virgin Mary Appears on the Cover of Playboy

María Florencia Onori posed as the Virgin of Guadalupe for the cover of Mexican Playboy. Though draped in a white robe, she is naked beneath and part of her breast is exposed.

Playboy has already issued an apology.

The copy that accompanies the photo spread, translated into English, is strange.

María Florencia Onori

Bendita Seas

You are so adventurious María, when the light reaches your skin and your eyes find those of our readers. Blankets, flowers, bouquets, and stained glass: a playful game of light and shadow that deliver a renewed sensuality to our pages, witnesses of feminine grace where a stain does not fit, but the subtleness of a youthful body that radiates its beauty in a rug of petals. Yours are the hopes and the candor, yours the nakedness at the light of the candles, yours the crown with which December salutes you. Let it be.

Men!

- MachoChip.com | Playboy Virgin María Florencia Onori Is A True Blessing! [NSFW]

Catholic Mass Kit for Little Boys Only!

A toy mass kit from Wee Believers is "aimed at play for boys ages 3-12."

("Wee Believers." Do these people ever listen to what they're saying?)

My Mass Kit includes twelve plush, cleanable pieces and detailed instructional booklet contained in a durable, canvas case. Pieces include: Crucifix, Chalice, Thurible, Finger Bowl, Purificator, 2 Cruets, 2 Candles, Paten, cloth Corporal, and foam Hosts

Foam hosts. Oh, for Christ's sake. There's more. It's "Certified Quiet (TM) no noisy parts to disturb reverent environments." Don't even think of using the phrase "Certified Quiet" because these people own it.

- Wee Believers | My Mass Kit

The Vatican Warns of the Spiritual Dangers of Cell Phones

Does your cell phone weigh the same as a duck? If not, according to the Vatican, your soul may be in danger, girl!

Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope’s spokesman, said.

In the age of the cell phone and the internet it is probably more difficult than before to protect silence and to nourish the interior dimension of life.It is difficult but necessary.

There is an interior and spiritual dimension of life that must be guarded and nourished. If it is not, it can become barren to the point of drying up and, indeed, dying. Today, this is a very grave threat, and it is the most irreparable misfortune.

Srsly?

- Telegraph.Co.UK | Vatican warns mobile phones are bad for the soul

Saint George is Going on a Trip

He's leaving next fall.

Thank, Ben!

Vatican Officially Forgives John Lennon. Imagine That.

According to the Washington Post,

The Vatican's newspaper has finally forgiven John Lennon for declaring that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, calling the remark a "boast" by a young man grappling with sudden fame. The comment by Lennon to a London newspaper in 1966 infuriated Christians, particularly in the United States, some of whom burned Beatles' albums in huge pyres.

Yoko Ono remains unforgiven.

Priest Demands Penance for Obama Voters Before Communion

Priest admits uselessness.



Jay Scott Newman, a priest at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville, SC, wrote to his congregation,

Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ's Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.

Shaken by the media attention his pronouncement received, Newman tried to mitigate the damage by claiming his words were taken out of context and then sought to avoid repercussions by depreciating himself,

In truth, I am but a useless servant of the Lord Jesus trying, despite my frailty, to be a faithful witness to Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Nevertheless, if you're planning on attending this church I suggest you grab a bite before you go.

- St.Mary's Catholic Church | To Those Responding to the AP Story

Altar Boys | Wriggley Lace-clad Angels

From Men, Dear Men, chapter 12, "a series of articles on Christian manners for men taken from a book entitled, 'The Christian Gentleman', by G.C. Davy. (1960)"

Altar-Boys
Those lace-clad angels that wriggle and bounce around our altars are privileged beings - more privileged than most of them seem to realise.

He sounds just like Humbert Humbert.

It is a fact that many altar-boys are restless in the sanctuary. Often this is due to over-eagerness or a natural lack of deportment. However, if an altar-boy realises where he is and what he is doing, his movements will not be too ungraceful. He must, of course, be always alert to assist the priest and anticipate what is needed both in the sacristy and at the altar.

Vatican Blasts Democrats as "Party of Death"

The Existentialist Cowboy points out the hypocrisy of the Catholic church, responsible for millions of deaths over the last 2000 years, in calling the Democrats the "party of death."

The Prefect of the Vatican's Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature has accused the U.S. Democratic party of transforming itself into a party of death. Raymond Burke, former Archbishop of St. Louis, lashed out at high profile Catholics - vice presidential candidate Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - for misrepresenting Church teaching on abortion.

Catholic priests love children.

- The Existentialist Cowboy | Vatican Flaunts Gross Hypocrisy, calls Democrats "A Party of Death"
- Russia Today | Vatican labels U.S. Democrats "party of death"

Ermine Flap

"This old thing? I only wear this when I don't care how I look!"*

An Italian animal rights group is taking the pope to task over his penchant for the snow white fur of the "Armenian rat," from which the name "ermine" derives. Not a rat at all, but a Mustela erminea, more commonly known as the short-tailed weasel, or stoat.

Pope Benedict has earned a reputation as a bit of a fashion plate, donning what are rumored to be red Prada shoes, though the Vatican swears they are custom made by the pope's own cobbler. Pope Benedict seems very fond of red, and it's a good color for him. It makes him appear very lifelike.

The pope illustrates the saying, "If you wait long enough, everything comes back into fashion." Much of what he wears, the red velvet cape and santa hat, for instance, have been languishing in the back of the closet, with the leg warmers and elephant bells, since the 60's. Pope John XXIII was the last to wear red velvet.

Could the pope have been coveting this ensemble since the 60's, hoping and praying to one day be pope, perhaps trying the outfit on when no one else was around?

Isn't she cute?

- Guardian UK | Vatican: Pope makes fur fly over revival of ermine robes
- Wikipedia | Ermine
* Line from Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life."

Make a Spoof Video About Abortion - Win $1000

The California Catholic Daily is offering a $1000 prize for the best Proposition 4 video. This (above) seems to be the only entry. You have until August 31 to get yours submitted. The winning video may even be used in TV ads.

Proposition 4, also called "Sarah's Law," is parental notification dusted off and run up the flagpole once again. The California Catholic Daily suggests,

Make your own TV ad. With YouTube technology, anyone can make a 30- or 60-second ad -- use the story of a young girl you know, make a spoof of arguments from the other side, use animation, use materials already on FriendsofSarah.com and dramatize them.
[my emphasis]

Use the story of a young girl you know - perhaps one who needed or had an abortion? Make a spoof about it? Because young pregnant girls and their problems are so very funny? And what is YouTube technology?

Proposition 73 (2005) and 85 (2006) were both parental notification ballot initiatives, and both would have changed the California state constitution. YesOn73.net was funded in large part by Jim Holman (California Catholic Daily and Friends of Sarah) and Tom Monaghan (Domino's Pizza). Both measures were defeated by voters.

Instead of being straightforward and calling Proposition 4 a parental notification law, Friends of Sarah wanted it titled, "Child and Teen Safety and Stop Predators Act: Sarah's Law." The proposition doesn't have anything to do with sexual predators. The link is that some teenaged women become pregnant by men who are adults, which constitutes statutory rape.

There is no Sarah. The "Sarah" (not her real name) that Friends of Sarah references was a 15-year-old Texas woman in a common law marriage who died during an abortion. Sarah's Law would not have affected her.

The official title of Proposition 4 will be, Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor's Pregnancy, Initiative Constitutional Amendment. Thank you, Jerry Brown.

Vote No on 4. Don't eat Domino's pizza.

- Seeing the Forest | Stop Sarah's Law -- California Proposition 4
- Jim Holman | California Catholic Daily
- Jim Holman | Friends of Sarah
- LA Times | Girl who inspired 'Sarah's Law' is subject of dispute over the abortion measure
- California Secretary of State | Propositions that are on the
November 4, 2008, General Election Ballot